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Monday, December 16, 2013

Pray Big for Your Child by Will Davis Jr.

Pray big for your child. It seems like a natural thing to do doesn't it? I pray for my children. Hopefully, you pray for yours, but do we pray big? Reading Pray Big for Your Child by Will Davis Jr. helped me to realize that the prayers I had become so used to praying are general prayers like "protect my kids," "keep my kids safe," etc. Pray Big for Your Child helped me learn to pray "big, bold audacious" prayers for my kids and others. I learned to pray specific prayers. General prayers aren't bad. It is perfectly find to pray for God to protect our kids, but this book helped me to remember to pray more specifically like "Protect my kids from (fill in the blank with something specific)." Help my child to understand (fill in the blank with something specific)."

Learning to Pray Big for Your Child

My oldest child is 20 years old but I have prayed for him for more than 20 years. I prayed for my children long before they were born. In fact, I have prayed for my children since I was practically a child myself. Even as a child, all I wanted in life was a husband, kids and a little white house with a little white picket fence. First I prayed that God would gift us with children and then I prayed for them. I prayed that I would be a good mother and that my children would be obedient. I prayed that I would know what to do if one of my babies choked on a hot dog or ran out into the street. I prayed my children would be healthy and that I would have at least one boy and one girl. After they started to school, I prayed they would be treated well and that they would treat others well. I prayed that they would receive good grades and that their teachers would like them. As they grew older, I prayed they would choose good friends, that they would make good decisions, that they would not do drugs . . . the list goes on and on. I have always spent a lot of time praying for my kids and I always prayed from deep within my heart. One thing I learned while reading Pray Big for Your Child by Will Davis Jr. is that while I have always prayed general prayers - and those are good - I need to learn to pray specific prayers for my children. I need to pray pin-point prayers.

Praying Pin-Point Prayers

Will Davis encourages us to pray specific pin-point prayers for our children. Davis tells us in Part 1 that

"Pinpoint prayers, as opposed to no-point prayers, have clear purpose, direction, and focus. They're the kind of prayers that honor God the most, and they're the kind that you and I want to be praying for our children."

Davis outlines the principles of Biblical, specific, and bold prayers for our children. He compares a parent's pinpoint prayer to a child who is asking for Santa for very specific gifts. Pray Big for Your Child reminds readers that broad, general prayers aren't wrong, but bold specific prayers are most effective. Parents are encouraged to pray with the faith of a child and to ask God to show them how to pray for their child.

Big, Hairy, Audacious Prayers

Davis loves it when parents pray BHAP prayers, Big, Hairy, Audacious Prayers for their children. He teaches parents how to do this in chapter 3. He outlines the principles of BHAP prayers as God-centered, based on a vision, biblical, and non-manipulated. In chapter 3 of part 1, Will Davis Jr. gives parents a little homework assignment. He instructs parents to make a list of pinpoint, big, hairy, audacious prayers they wish to pray for their children. Then, he tells parents to search the Bible for specific scriptures to support each prayer.Pray Big for Your Child: Part 2

Will Davis Jr. begins part 2 of his book,Pray Big for Your Child, by laying down a firm foundation of prayer guidelines. He outlines specific prayer points such as praying that your child will have a healthy reverence for God, that your child will develop Godly character . . . and so forth. He explains how "being a character and having character are not the same thing." Chapter 4 is packed full of prayer principles and specific prayers you can add to your own list for your child, no matter how young or how old he or she is. When you read Pray Big for Your Child, you learn to pray big. You will learn to pray specifically about your child's obedience to God, finding favor with God, knowing the Bible and how to pray that your child learns to hear God's voice.

Chapter 4 teaches parents how to pray for their child's future spouse and his or her family.

Chapters 5 - 6

Davis continues to guide parents through the principles of praying through a child's daily life. He teaches parents how to pray for their child's protection, education and relationships. Davis outlines the importance of praying for your child to develop Godly friends. Davis says to his readers,

"It's scary to think about, but there will be times when your child's friends will actually have more influence on your child's decisions than you do, and a bad influence can easily lead an otherwise moral kid astray."

Davis teaches parents how to pray for their children's spiritual maturity. Parents are encouraged to pray that their children will love God, love His Word (the Bible), and love to pray. Parents should pray that their children will love to worship God and that they will use their God-given gifts to serve God in their place of worship.

Chapter 7

In chapter 7 of Pray Big for Your Child, Davis teaches parents how to pray for the man their sons will become. This chapters stresses the importance of Christian Community. Our kids are tempted in ways we never dreamed of when we were younger. Davis teaches parents to pray that their sons will be surrounded by Godly men and form a community of accountability. Davis reminds parents that they should model Godly relationships. If parents don't think it is important to be part of a community of Godly relationships, chances are their kids won't value those relationships when they reach adulthood. In chapter 7, Davis also emphasizes the importance of modeling and teaching children to be good leaders.

Chapter 8

Chapter 8 teaches parents how to pray for the women their daughters will become. We learn to pray that our daughters will love and respect themselves and that they will place Jesus first in their lives. Davis teaches parents how to pray that their daughters will know they are holy creations.

Chapter 9

In chapter 9, we learn to pray for our children's mission. God created each one of our children for a specific purpose. Parents learn to pray that our children will recognize God's vision for their lives and that they will recognize their roles. One pin-point prayer, amongst others, is that our children will realize their purpose through serving others.

Part 3

I'm afraid I might have already given too much information so let me summarize Part 3 by saying that this last section focuses on teaching parents to let go and allow God to complete his purposes through our children. Parents learn to pray for other people who will impact our children's lives. We learn to pray pin-point prayers for our kids, those around them and their spiritual inheritance.

At the end of this book, Davis offers parents a 30 Day prayer guide which covers our children's hearts, souls, minds, and their strength.

I found this book helpful and I hope you will as well. I highlighted specific areas throughout the book and plan to use it as a daily guide which will show me daily how to pray specific, powerful, pin-point prayers for my children and others.

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